To err is human. To Ayr for the NVS National Championships, on the other hand, is most definitely vegetable. Yes, for the most exquisite examples of home growing on show anywhere in the U.K. this year, you simply had to be in ‘the Auld Town’ this August.
You may not have been there, but we were. So you can still read all about it. The sublime, uncannily beautiful, larger than Ayr-verage sized produce – the highs, the lows, the vegetal intrigues! There’s no need to turn Ayr-cule Poirot – leave it to us to unmask the growing techniques employed for glory. And if pomp and pageantry are your thing then read on, as we celebrate the growers who ultimately would be Ayr to the throne – the vegetable throne!
‘What’s so special about the veg on show at an NVS Nationals?’, you may reasonably ask. Well, if we had to choose one word to describe the entries it would be ‘perfection’. These are not necessarily the biggest veg – although a robust crop is a bare minimum if you want to be competitive. And they’re not necessarily the most exotic or hard-to-grow crops – although well executed diversity can garner extra attention.
To be in the running for a Nationals prize your veg need to be precision itself. Ripe, uniform in shape and size with stunning, unblemished skin, Nationals entries are surreally beautiful – akin to an idealised illustration of a vegetable. Somewhat ‘Swiss’.
It’s absolutely a good thing that we’re now encouraged to embrace (and eat!) wonky veg and understand that not everything grown should be ‘ramrod-straight.’ Veg competitions aren’t about undoing this idea though. They’re about the incredible skill that goes into producing specimen crops naturally.
As anyone who has grown at home will know, it is quite a feat to get one carrot that is a) straight, b) large, and c) clean-skinned – let alone a uniform bunch that tick all three boxes. Yet such are the prerequisites for Nationals silverware.
It’d be doing the skill, dedication, and hard work of NVS growers a complete disservice if we were to pretend that growing at this level is easy. It’s not. But it is fascinating and inspiring to find out about the cultivation techniques that competitors employ. You can learn more on that from the NVS Exhibition Growing Booklets here.
Whilst the average grower might not adopt the full range of methods that are contained within the Booklets, there are loads of little ‘takeaways’ that anyone can employ to elevate their growing.
True, many an NVS comp grower will create a bespoke growing site for their crop. Certain veg absolutely require it. But make no mistake, watering systems such as our own have carried off plenty of NVS competition prizes in the past and continue to do so.
This year Chris Spree ‘Silvered’ with his AutoPot-grown crop in the 12x Tomatoes (Medium) category. His virtually identical ‘Damaress Dozen’ exhibited an incredibly deep red hue, each skin pinging against the rich green of the calyx. Chris was most fortunate to end up a penny ‘up’. Having added his tomatoes to his flight luggage at a cost of £29.99 he subsequently won £30 for finishing second.
Many thanks to the NVS for welcoming us in and to Jalal Edwards our U.K. North Rep for representing us so well. Upbeat, knowledgeable, and able to eloquently intro our systems to any audience, Jalal is a real credit to AutoPot. He in turn sends his thanks to Gav, Nick and all the team at Premier Hydroponics for their help. Who Gav, Nick and all the team at Premier Hydroponics would like to send their thanks to we’ve no idea, but they’re a great outfit and well worth a visit if you’re round about Dundee or Edinburgh.
Next time around NVS growers will be making yet more vegetable history at St Fagan’s – the Welsh National Museum of History. Such a coincidence! It’s almost like we thought the sentence through before writing it. Diarise for 12-13th Sept people! We supplied a number of systems as prizes this year and have high hopes of seeing yet more AutoPot-grown veg topping the trestles in 2026.
